[This episode originally aired on July 19, 2022] The Tibetan term for compassion—karuna—can be translated as “noble heart” • in the Buddhist teachings, compassion is almost always linked with another quality that actually changes the sense of what it might mean • in this episode I will talk about three such pairings: compassion with emptiness, compassion with wisdom, and compassion with skillful means • linking compassion with emptiness places it in a perspective that is less dualistic and less heavy-handed; there is a sense of playfulness and spaciousness and spontaneity • pairing compassion with wisdom introduces a certain accuracy, and the intelligence to know when to act and when to refrain from acting • without wisdom, we risk falling into “idiot compassion,” where were you just launch into a situation thinking you are going to be helpful, but end up actually making it worse • and thirdly, compassion is often linked with skillful means, or effective action • this pairing emphasizes the fact that compassion is not something we just dream about, but it shows up in our actions.

[This episode was originally published on July 12, 2022] Recently I came across a disturbing study indicating that people who spend a lot of time in silent meditation practice can actually become less loving, less generous in their interactions with others • that made me think about the importance of balancing the simplicity of meditation with the cultivation of friendship, love, and kindness • my teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, emphasized that meditation practice, at its essence, is a form of kindness: making friends with yourself • he stressed that making friends with yourself is the basis for making friends with others • basic mindfulness is the ground for doing pretty much anything; but we need more than mindfulness alone • we need to infuse the spaciousness that develops through meditation practice with love and warmth • it said that if the mind is still and clear, like a clear glass of water, even a tiny thimble full of color can change the tint of the entire glass • if we drop just one drop of loving kindness into that glass, it pervades the whole thing • by cultivating mindfulness or clarity of mind we are providing a landing spot for drops of compassion to fall and pervade throughout the entire system.

The focus of this episode is listening • we might think of listening as something passive, but it is actually a very active process, one that is closely associated with paying attention • a traditional dharmic example of listening fully and properly is that of a deer in the forest: when a deer hears an unfamiliar sound, its listening becomes instantly heightened • listening is talked about as the first step in developing insight or prajna • some of the things that prevent us from being able to hear the teachings are distractedness, spacing out, not having control over our mind, and having preconceptions which filter and distort what we hear • true listening is based on getting out of oneself, and on not jumping to conclusions • true listening includes the entire atmosphere: the gestures, the quality of the day, the other people in the room, the way the room was set up, and the spaces where nothing was said • Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche once said, “Hearing does not mean just using your ears, it means using all your senses. For instance, when you hear a Dharma talk, you may smell the incense burning on the shrine, which inspires reverence for the lineage. After that, whenever you burn incense, you have a memory of that, and a connection with the teachings you heard in that setting. You could say that you are smelling the Dharma.” • so listening is our gateway into the teachings of the Dharma.